Donovan Mitchell is having the best season of his career. If the rest of the league hasn’t noticed yet, at least Mitchell himself and one of his teammates certainly have.
What am I talking about? GOOD, Athletics has released its latest player survey, conducted during All-Star weekend. In the survey they asked: “Who is the best player in the NBA?” to which Mitchell received the third highest number of votes, behind only Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and tied with Luka Doncic.
This would make Mitchell not only the best player in the Eastern Conference according to his peers, but also the best American player in the league.
But there is a problem. And that’s a big problem.
The Athletic only surveyed 18 players for this specific question. Jokic received six votes, SGA three, while Luka and Mitchell received two.
So who voted for Mitchell?
Well…Mitchell voted for himself. Telling Joe Vardon of The Athletic: “Come on, Joe, I always have to tell myself. »
The other vote? Mitchell’s teammate, Jaylon Tyson, who was also at All-Star Weekend and participating in the Rising Stars Challenge. I have to respect a teammate who rides or dies for the other.
This means we can’t really take anything away from this survey. Something tells me the voters were a little biased.
Regardless, Mitchell deserves some recognition. He’s averaging 29 points and 5.9 assists per game while leading the Cavaliers through a rough start to the season. Now he’s catapulting his team into the mix as an Eastern Conference contender and meshing well with his new backcourt partner, James Harden.
The Athletic interviewed more than 30 players present in Los Angeles. The full anonymous results of this survey can be found here. Other survey questions include “Who has the best gamer podcast?” and “What is the biggest problem facing the league today?”
